Britain's Barry Clark was unable to keep up his perfect run of wins in the Fiesta SportingTrophy International series in Spain over the weekend after an off on the second day.
Clark, who has already secured the 2007 FSTi title following a clean sweep of overall victories on the other five rounds, went into the Rally Catalunya keen to make it six from six.
However he made a mistake on day 2 in the 15.85 kilometre Margalef test when he slid off the road and plunged down a 30 foot drop. Although his Fiesta took a battering, it was repaired overnight and the 25-year-old was able to re-start under the SupeRally on day 3 and eventually finished the event sixth in class and second in the FSTi category.
"It's a bit of a shame that we couldn't win again and it was not far off in the end though. I was looking forward to taking the win on each round, but that's rallying I guess," reflected the Stobart-backed man.
"There was a lot of mud on the road and we just slid straight off down a 30 foot drop, we might have been saved if the safety barrier was up but Kalle Pinomaki had taken it out earlier in the day.
"We landed straight on the bonnet and I thought the damage was too severe to re-start, but it was a great effort by the guys to have it ready to re-enter under SupeRally on Sunday; they had it all ready by Saturday night.
"Second is still a good result and I'm happy that we managed to get a run over the majority of the stages here and gain the experience for future events," he added.
Clark's problem allowed Vytautas Baranauskas to come through and take the win in the class - his first of the season.
The Lithuanian was delighted with the victory, although power steering issues on the final day did leaving him sweating: “I am so happy to win this rally! We have had so much bad luck and Barry has driven so fast this year, and with so much consistency, that he has been too hard to beat.
